Politico Reporter Takes Plunge Into Freezing Potomac

Last weekend, Politico‘s Patrick Gavin participated in what he dubbed the “dumbest Game Change we’ve ever done.” Along with 200 others, including Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) Gavin jumped into a literally freezing 32-degree Potomac River to raise awareness about climate change. Chesapeake Climate Action Network sponsored the event.

Gavin documented the plunge on video, including the moments before, as he read and signed a release and was told by Edwards that he looked like “a nice, healthy, strapping young man.”

They warned him that getting out of the water and standing wet in the 20-degree cold was worse than the actual plunge, and that was no lie. “The water, believe it or not, was warmer than the air, so it was the best of two bad options,” he said. He said he wouldn’t do another plunge for pleasure, but would for a good cause or a job. “Wait, journalism is a good cause in need of saving,” he said, “so maybe they’re one in the same.”

But the most pressing question, more important than any “good cause” nonsense: How does Gavin think Edwards looked in her wetsuit?